Senate Asks Ministry of Works to Remove All Illegal Speed Bumps On Federal Roads

The Senate has asked the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing to remove all speed bumps indiscriminately erected on Federal Government highways and enforce compliance with speed limits.

The decision was based on the adoption of a motion jointly moved by Senator Barnabas Gemade (Benue North-East) and Senator Stella Oduah (Anambra-North) at the plenary on Tuesday, entitled, ‘Urgent Need to Control the Indiscriminate Erection of Speed Bumps on Federal Roads Nationwide.’

The Senate unanimously granted the prayers of the motion, including to “direct the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing to remove all the speed bumps indiscriminately erected on the federal highways nationwide and regulate and standardise erection of all speed bumps.”

The lawmakers also urged the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing to cause owners of petrol filling stations to build a service lane of not less than 50 metres on both sides of the stations to avoid customers turning directly to and from the highways.

They also urged the ministry to enforce setback regulations for fixed structures along the highways and urged the planning authority to enforce regulations for motor parks, markets and places of worship.

Moving the motion, Gemade said the Senate noted “with dismay” the thousands of speed bumps recently erected on almost all federal highways nationwide, ostensibly to control the speed of vehicles plying the roads.

According to Gemade, some of the hazards posed by the bumps to vehicle owners are “accelerated wear and tear of the vehicles, loss of many hours in billions (of money) when quantified nationwide, and damage to vehicle suspension systems as most of these bumps are not professionally designed.”

Seconding the motion, Senator Joshua Lidani said while Bauchi State had removed speed bumps from its roads, Nasarawa State still has many of them.

“I think there is the need for these speed bumps to be removed. If they have to be installed, let it be done professionally,” he stated.

Some senators, who spoke on the motion, however warned that removal of the bumps could lead to death, noting there are communities, schools and religious buildings along the highways.